Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/66135
WineEastNews Ontario Boosts Lightweight Wine Bottles Regulations prompt suppliers to weigh in; glass still most popular BDI_Jan09.qxp 10/10/08 12:47 PM Page 1 oronto, Ontario—Ontario's move to make sales of wine and other alco- holic beverages more environmentally friendly is setting the pace for packaging suppliers across North America. The government-owned Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), the world's single-largest buyer of wine, adopted guidelines last year stipulating that wine priced below $15 per bottle should be packaged in bottles weigh- ing no more than 420 grams (14.8 ounces), while case weights for all products should not exceed 18.9 kilograms (41.7 pounds). Wines listed at $15 and less per bottle represent 77.4% of wines sold by the LCBO, and the majority of the 80 million wine bottles it handles each year. Bottles average about 500 grams, although one monster weighs 900 grams. T "This is a standard that we feel is rea- sonable, attainable.…It's do-able," said Chris Layton, media relations coordinator for the LCBO. A date for full-scale adoption of the new packaging standard hasn't been set, but wineries such as Beamsville, Ontario's 18,000-case Malivoire Wine Co. as well as several from the Southern Hemisphere already are providing their cheaper wines in bottles weighing as little as 350 grams. Malivoire made the shift three years ago, recognizing that transportation costs and greenhouse gas emissions could be cut by using lightweight bottles. Its cases now weigh two kilograms (4.4 pounds) less than before the lighter bottles were adopted. "All it did was add shipping costs and fuel usage when it came into the country, and when we shipped it from the winery to the customer," said Ernie Kerst, general manager of Malivoire. "There just was no sense in us shipping glass everywhere. So we went with the lighter weight bottle." —Peter Mitham 64 Wines & Vines JUne 2011